₦airaland Forum

Hmmmmmn Madam Na Wah oooo

gabbytabby:
Both of mine are not in a proper estate and no accountability takes place so I just stay on the sideline and watch drama. I no want undue stress.

So you mean you pay them security dues and you are happy for them to use your money to chop fish or buy jeeps ? What does staying on the sideline mean madam (payment or no payment), if i may ask.

In as much as nobody likes wahala, I feel its good to also draw a line between what is acceptable and what is not, what is always wrong with some people, things they know are utterly wrong, yet they still feel its right to do it. If thats how they have no accountability at work, next thing thier work will drag them to ALAGBON in ikoyi there. Why is it that some feel they can take advantage of others ?

As for your tenants, I think someone needs to read the riot act to them before they take complete control.

gabbytabby:
Both of mine are not in a proper estate and no accountability takes plave so I just stay on the sideline and watch drama. I no want undue stress.

My tenant wahala is enough. Just yesterday without informing me some of them made alternative doorlock for the pedestrian entrance gate. I decided to let this slide and ask for my key they refused apparently they only installed a 6 keys lock in a 7 flat compound and the organiser feels because he does not owe rent that it entitles him to lock me in and out of the compound.

Was the lock necessary absolutely not as the gate came with 5 pre installed lock points that was never used. All they needed was 1 or 2 or up to 5 padlocks to secure the gate.

Wow. an eye opener.

So here is my own situation, soooort of involved in 2, one established over 5 yrs ago and the other one hmmmmn, after my build finished i met the 2 key players, but before then i knew one of the key players a year or so before.

The first one has bankers, oil workers and ur average high middle class professionals, they have an account in the name of the association, send updates on whatever is happening in the estate, have various committees, have a finance committee who regularly send out state of finance, they have millions in the bank in association money. It works out reasonably well, we get like 3/4 page reports about the last meeting which holds on sanitation days, in fact there is a whatapp group, 2 in fact. one for estate business and one for yanga, i came out of the yanga one coz it was all jokes i didn't find funny and advertisements etc from residents. It works reasonably well, and they have committees like security, power, legal, sanitation, welfare, social etc. In fact their end of year party is always good.

The other one is not an estate proper, things hardly work the main players speak a particular language that i do not understand, and there seems to be come kind of collusion going on. Some of the other none owners that happen to be same tribe as me do not want to have anything to do with the so called association which is like a group of 4 men who want to run things how they like, there is little or no corporation and they all seem to have thier own agenda. One of the 2 things i was able to force them to do is open an account in the name of the association which they didnt do, they opened it in the name of 2 of the landlords , and secondly have a whatsapp group so that decisions can be joint rather then 2/3 people exercising control and then coming with money demands.

Last year, there was no light for 6 months, Why ?

Because transformer blew, it took me going on ground to speak to the parties involved, get NEPA on board, speak to the stake holders and forge some kind of peace. Anyway long story. So they asked me to contribute some money, which i have no problem with but i just need to be sure that my kobokobo contribution will be used judiciously and not for personal things, so i said to them that i would like us to start keeping records and have some form of transparency & accountability, they resisted and even told me that if i was worried someone will embezzle my money, i should not donate.

Anytime I ask for accountability & transparency, there is always an argument. So i just resigned from the association. I cant be involved in something like that, and the funny thing is that these guys are lawyers/bank workers, I now told them that is that how they do in thier work place. I donated money for the transformer stuff, but after that I dunno man.

back2sender:
Bros we have a constitution now that guides the association. The first set of people elected themselves and used our money to build thier houses and buy cars join. People like us that used to sit on the fence now said it will no longer be business as USUAL, thier was push backs but we stood our ground.
Yours throughly is the financial officer and i can tell you while the Landlords are happy about it, The cabals Landlords dey try instigate a revolt amongst thier loyalist.
To lead no easy, naa here i see am.
Part of the innovation i want to bring to the table is the power Point presentation approach during meetings, secondly instead of prayers we will sing the pledge or national anthems.
In terms of numbers over 500

Oga

What was your experience with your landlord association, and roughly how many are you guys. Is there like rules/regulation etc and how do you guys take care of financial matters ?

back2sender:
Oga last page please i need your help here, IT related question.

Can i send free bulk sms through my email account? We have a meeting of our Landlords association and the names plenty to send sms to. We are trying to start up the association. The sms is to share the date n time , venue and agenda in advance.

Secondly i suggested a power Point presentation for the meeting, so that we can do something different from the norms in the area. Make it look professional and not a town market stuff.

Others in the house with informations can please help out

Very true observation.
It has now become a forum where people can get educated, exchange ideas and learn.

VERY BIG THANK YOU TO ALL THAT MADE THIER VOICES HEARD. NOBODY LIKES FRAUD APART FROM FRAUDSTERS !!

3strikes:

I just want to use this opportunity to thank everyone who fought tirelessly on this thread to fight fraud and fraudsters........pls know that your efforts are not in vain. ......its been over 10 months now and no new cases of fraud. This should count for something and you should all be proud of yourself. You sanitized the thread.

There was a time....new week, new fraud case.

Anyways you all should have a good week.

I will check a gym and see how they have done it, just give me some time. I would not want to put glue on it though, just thinking what if you decide in future not to use it as a gym, then you have that glue marks all over the tiles. those rubber mats are usually heavy piles, and should have some kind of surface that will not easily slip. If you also measure out the room, and cut it to fit, there is no where for it to slip/move to, that way if there is a change of use, just "KA NLE", roll it off the ground and back to your tiles.

Empiree:
thanks man. You think I can just place it on the tiles just like that or use glue used for shingles?.

Thanks again.

I surely would be very pissed if someone was dropping dumbbells on tiles, you need thick rubber mat as pictured like 1 inch and above thickness.
This is what is in use at most gyms.

Empiree:
please tell me what can be done here if you know. On my second floor front yard (terrace), I placed tiles there but the people living there use it to gym. So they always place there gym on tiles and it gets cracked. In the process water lodges through cracks and leaks downstairs directly in the room below it when it rains.

I'm suggesting using this rubber tiles to cover the ceramic tiles but do I need some sort of glue to glue it down on the tiles and would it stick or just place them ?

I do have gallon of very dark sealant used for shingles but I don't know if this may stick on the rubber?

Damn....
Its a hard and tough one madam, it really is. I was always made to believe yoruba were the best and gold standard, however I have proven (with evidence) to those who said that over the years that its not the case (hard to generalise, but some categories have some element of truth to it). I think na to leave am to God, and when incident arise, DEAL with it using strong hand.

Madam, if flavour wants to rent your apato now, would you say no him because he is igbo ?

gabbytabby:
Its a list that was shared with me severally by different landlords and agents. My experience indicates over 80 percent true.

I have let to 2 olopa and 2 lawyers with no incident. Its a game of probabilities those more likely to be problematic.

Looking back let's just say I wish I had taken it on board

I am so happy to see this also, I like to believe we can match china quality if Govt provided the infrastructure and enabling environment to do so. The market is huge.

EgunMogaji:
The second pic is the warehouse display.

The actual restroom is about 10 feet deep so no issues at all with clearance.

Waiting for my tiler to cleanup the tile work on the floor and we'll need to break some wall tiles to get some clearance.

I'm just floored that this is made in Nigeria.

It looks like the window glass was broken to open the window from outside, then they broke off the hook points of the burglary to then take it off.
I remember when i was telling my welder that we should use 16mm rods for the burglary, he did YIMMU to me that it doesnt stop the determined thief its just something to put off low level ones.

Also our Nigerian mentality, if you got a house to rent and it doesnt have burglary, it will be frowned upon oo.

NL1960:
Even if it was an embedded burglary, this would have still happened. The owner of the house was kidnapped. The Police commissioner visited the place. So, i doubt they came to steal.

Hmmmmn.
What services are provided as per service charge in your case ? I would definitely sanction no opening of gate to non-payers (so if they drive in, they would have to get down to open the gate), afterall its the service charge that also funds security, so how they can expect that maiguard will serve them for free or no salary is beyond me.

Some well established estate would not allow even house owners to drive into the estate unless they pay certain dues. I have witnessed this first hand.

gabbytabby:
Try not to put your maigard on a collision course unless you live in the house. The service charge issue did not work for me. I am currently working on an all inclusive rent figure. There has been a revolt leading to some vacancies at times its for the best as it has allowed me to get ride of all none payers.

To keep the cost down and because I was funding the bulk of this personally I converted the maiguard room to shop after they failed to arrange this themselves and it was unused for close to 2 years. I kept the add on service to a bare minimum.

Some tenants who had to go round and do the collection are happy about this development as it keeps interactions with tenants over money to a minimum.

Hard to give u a price mate. As Egun mentioned, get 2/3 quotes and compare. The tower aluminium, I believe there is like 3 grades if memory serves me right. So make sure you know what you are paying for.

Might also be worth asking about others, like China imported/hard or whatever they call it.0

Ojebe:
Someone should plz attend to my case plz.

Not a civil engineer, so mind that
I would have thought the latter because i had this conv with a friend 2yrs ago and he said something along the lines that, if you want it to lap very well, do your blocks + lintel first, that way everything else sits ontop or around it, if its the other way, what if the measurement is not right and then u are having to patch with mortar.

back2sender:
Tutorials needed here my people in the house, want to learn a thing or two here.
Can one cast the pillars after block setting to lintel level of an upper floor first before doing the chain beam or can one cast the pillar and the chain beam TOGATHER after block Setting to lintel level.
Thank you

So in the tenancy agreement (no signing, no key as I dont joke with this), its usually stated that service charge needs to be paid etc. If one refuses to pay, my view is that they should not enjoy the services that the service charge covers, so for example if they drive car security should not open gate for them , can't use communal bin, water might be disconnected because its the service charge money that is being used to operate the pumping machine (they are however free to use the aboki well next door) etc. The above are just my views, I have not had a case like this, but payment should be strongly encouraged. Perhaps our learned lawyers can chip in here or experienced landlords like Haji/Gabbytabby et all.

In another building, when we noticed that tenants were not serious about taking on a guard, it was converted to a shop. We have no time for nonsense, if we didnt do that before you know it, tenants will start putting belongings inside mai-guard house or even put thier brother there self.

euromilion:
Bros it's interesting that you brought up the issues of service charges.i've a quick question,in a situation where every tenants paid their service charge except for one,two or three tenants refused/don't to pay,how do you tackle that?.

Very good point raised.
With normal gravity pressure, one can see leaks etc sometimes. I wonder what will happen if its pressured by a pump. Lets also think back, why does almost everyone have a tank tower, because of the dysfunctional government over the lat 30 years, check out how much Lagos state allocates for water resources and also FG, and yet few or nobody can boast of portable water supply.

Personal house, i am all for the pump thing (if it was tested with a pump for 6 hours a day non-stop for 4 weeks in a row before the pipes were buried in the wall to show no leaks) also if its can be solar with a backup battery for on demand water especially at night, rental - I would not try it.

battleaxe:
I think the issue of pressure pumps was raised some pages back.

One of the major downfalls mentioned was the need to have pipes rated to a particular psi and good workmanship to have been exhibited while joining pipes. With the obviously porous market we have, it is difficult to actually believe the ratings on some of the pipes with the exception of a certain type mentioned which I can't remember.... it was more expensive.

If you have poor workmanship and you use a pressure pump, then prepare to scoop water from your house.

This is it, obviously with interlocking in place etc, you cant see the raft in its construction phase, i would need to revisit my archive for that.
Initially, tower cost N450k. Made some modifications to it, which did cost extra N100K or so.

mufutau55:
Can you show us pic and how much for the cost? Thx.

Hajji M.

Oga Demainman1

Trust you are good.

So here is what I did, I had the borehole on a separate circuit (dedicated 3 ping plug for borehole) and deliberately made it a plug type. I will tell you why, by default the plug is supplied by NEPA light, however in cases where there is no light for days etc, since its plug any good Samaritan tenant can bring his/her own Gen to power the borehole, its a plug so its plug and play. And if they choose not to do that, they are on thier own.

I just provided this, along with electric meter where the borehole/security lights/security house/power house bulbs are connected to. This meter is topped up by money paid by the tenants for service charge, I keep all records in my spreadsheet and keep all receipts also, the law in Lagos state requires that when service charge is being collected, you need to give a statement of account every 6 months.

I had Gen on site during construction, after house opening my Gen gets re-deployed to another site or form part of my Gen backup. Its not a serviced apartment, and about 25 odd years ago (then big gens were the norm, small gens were not so popular then and NEPA wasn't this bad), we had this shared gen stuff with tenants and it was beset with problems (diesel scarcity then, repairs, when it comes on and off etc), so i learnt from that and said NO way am i following that school of thought.

I hope this helps.

Demainman1:
Please oga landlords, who provide the generator for water pumping from the borehole in a commercial house? Is it the landlord or the tenants?

If it's the landlord does he also provide the fuel? What about the maintenance of the generator ?

Oga Mavverick any idea?

you have to look at it from the distance from your highest shower point and the height of the tank. From experience, get it right first time and save yourself heartache later. For every 1 metre height distance, it equates to 0.1 bar water pressure. Also use original H beams that can be bolted if you can.

Low water pressure is extremely frustrating, imagine having a shower and soap dey ur body, u dey wait make shower wash am comot . When e reach one stage, you go comot bucket o.

In my case, i went just over 3 metres above my current highest shower point. So converting to foot, it will be about over 40 foot high, about 45 i think, with a raft base about 4 foot high, carries 3 tanks, 2k, 2k and 3k at the highest point, treated with red oxide 2 coat base, and care paint as final finish.

Demainman1:
30ft water tank stand for N550,000 naira. Yeee, I don die ooo. My people is this OK?

Mind telling us what this is ? reminds me of this thing that you find in the beach in Lagos !

44chux:
Granite alternative.
Used in phc for local gutter and slab construction.

In Nigeria, when I am inside the house and look out through the window. I don't like darkness in my compound especially when NEPA strikes and you happen to have gen on and some dont have gen, I like to be able to see stuff irrespective or whether there is someone there or not to trigger motion (PIR). I do however like the combination of the 2 (PIR & non PIR) as i have used this successfully, from a maintenance perspective also If light is not working, I change bulb job done (simples), I dont want layers of complexity of electrician telling me sensor is bad (they need to bring in PIR engineer just to exploit you).

I had Solar lights fitted, worked for about 2 months after that stopped working, which was strange but the electrician just said its the solar panel, even though its only been 2 months. I think its something else. When something is very complex, i like to avoid it in Nigeria unless i am on ground to give instructions in my presence.

I have no gain in spoiling your market, i am just expressing my views, which I am entitled to hold.

allCopacetic:
For the exact same reason why other people in other parts of the world want it.... Security and Energy conservation.

The question should be, why would you want your perimeter light on at all times in the first place....when for the larger percentage of the time it is neither providing illumination to anybody around, nor deterring intrusion....

Which do you think is more deterring... A light that just sits there ON,... or one that suddenly comes on upon approach which by the way also draws attention because of the sudden illumination,
Not to speak of the psychological twist of making the intruder wonder what other suprises this building could spring or might have in stock.

It's a no brainer really

Read on
https://www.nairaland.com/3293554/experience-obtaining-electricity-prepayment-meters

Rubyventures:
Does anyone know how to obtain an electric meter in Lagos?

Why would I want a PIR sensor light in Nigeria ? I thought most people would want security lights on most of the time especially at night.

Is it a security thing whereby once there is motion, the light will come on to make the person know that "we see you oo, we know you have landed". I just wonder..

allCopacetic:
For the consumption conscious, and the suprise springers, the Philips MyGarden heritage wall lamp... With motion/proximity sensor Is just the thing for you. Can be really cool to have intruders jump when your lights come on.

12m range ,140 degrees detection angle
True IP 44 rating.
Weather proof die-cast aluminum & Synthetics
£30 on amazon. We're selling for considerably less.

For Tech specs & details:
https://www.nairaland.com/2941901/watch-space-electrical-showcase-review/22#53307092

reviews and user images on amazon uk, and Philips uk websites. Can't post links unfortunately.

No problem.

With the name I think its in the East of which I dont know anything about, my knowledge area is mainly Lagos. For 3 bed to go for 700k - 1m, it means its in a good area considering the cost of building in the East. If you have a detailed quotation, you can get an idea by costing up materials now, then add a markup for labour as well.

earthrealm:
thanks bro, for the sound analysis, i appreciate it.
yup all 3 apartments are for rent, woji-peter odili axis, thus i believe the 4br duplex would be rentable, good 3br goes for btw 700k and 1m, so intend to put the rent in a sweet spot to attract a 3beroomer to just add small thing and upgrade to 4br duplex .
from this thread and research..hv deduced that the foundation would gulp btw 3m and 4m [old price], dont know with this increment what it would be now.
wanna just do the foundation and come out, then pause and observe the country

In that case, there is scope for chopping some things. As you said its rental, just get the basics/important bit right, i.e the substructure and superstructure (Foundation and the rest of the things that are on it to make a house).

I assume you are on ground, there are some places you can make savings.

Rent - Know what the area commands from a rent perspective, there is usually a low/medium/high bar, and also a rent ceiling that is, rent in X area cannot be more than X amount, if your location cannot command the high bar, why would you want to spend so much finishing/designing the house after all, even if he fine pass Adenuga house, the rent cannot still hit the high bar.

Room sizes - The bigger the more expensive, more cement, more tiles, more materials, more for pop etc.

Wood - Buy used good ones (used once) or rent marine if you have access to it, note with marine you will still need wood but just reduced quantity especially 1 by 12.

Theft - Reduce theft to the minimum.

Scope of works - Try to group works together so that it can be done all at once, so when I negotiate with some of my workers I group all the work together instead of separate negotiations, then I pay based on stages/milestones.

Tiles - Choose cheap tiles in less important areas (bathroom wall is an example in my case) and you dont have to tile bathroom/kitchen up to ceiling, but get the parlour/kitchen one right and flashy/bold neutral colours if you can.

Paint - In my case I did mix and match, outside which is my jurisdiction I used highest quality paint to attract interest, inside which is outside my jurisdiction during a tenancy I used cheap paints that did the job and used the colour wheel very well, in places where I needed to be bright I did, in places where I needed to be subtle, I used subtle colours and in the end the feedback was great.

The 4 bed duplex, is that for rent as well. I wouldn't do it in current state of Nigeria, most people dont have more than 2 kids now because of the cost of raising them, in my days education was more or less free nowadays if you have not sent kids to private school, you have not sent them to a school and there is I BETTER PASS MY NEIGHBOUR. Most big properties often have big families and big BUKATA, so they usually pay first year rent but after that you are on your own, they will either tell you that the money has been used for school fees or to build thier own house in Lekki, unless dem carry and get decency.

Increase in price of materials does not usually mean increased rent, because the people renting mostly have not built a house, so they dont know what the price of cement is, and as i said before each area usually has its own low/medium/high rent bar. This is I think what you need to focus on and drive your decision making unless u wan show people that you have hammered.

Caution yourself - Don't let emotions enter, go for quality products but not necessarily the most flashy expensive one. We are all guilty of it, especially if its your first house.

Good luck and all the best.

earthrealm:
yeah, problem is...the building is for rent, so am wondering if with the increased cost of build, wch will translate to increased rent, if tenants wud be willing to pay the much higher rent.
it 2units of 2br+1 unit 4br duplex

You mean surface everywhere inside the house ?
Here, if drains gets blocked by towels etc, there are 2 popular options. Most drain companies or experienced plumbers have this langalanga thing like a metal rope, they put it down the drain and it will push whatever is blocking into the main drain or sewer away from the pipes. Most sophisticated ones will have a camera at the end of it, so they can see what they are dealing with.

Secondly and one that I usually do, I just put this chemical we call ONE SHOT down the drain, it melts everything it sees on its way, of course not the plastic pipe. In fact one shot should not be handled with naked hand.

Another one I tried last week was to use bicarbonate of soda powder and my magic vinegar, forms a reaction and clears out dirt in drains, just use hot water to wash it away. In terms of DIY, ONE SHOT is the most effective in my experience.

Spyder, do we have something similar to ONE SHOT in Nigeria ?

spyder880:
Yes, since this is a commercial property, you cannot control the behaviour of tenants here, so to be on the safe side, I usually do surface piping so that if it becomes blocked due to tenants throwing pads, towels and clothes into the toilets, we can easily service the drains by removing the pipes. This is easier, conduit piping would be very tough to fix if it's blocked.

lol

I just scroll pass. yawns yawns !

Demainman1:
Well said @Spyder, making your point without writing a whole A3 paper garnished with colour crayon like people like Lastpage do.

Thank you jaré.

Think it all depends on your pocket. In terms of whether the country will get better or worse, nobody knows however the indication does point to the latter.

Can you still afford to execute the project with the current price of materials ? Can you compromise on some things ?
These are the questions you need to ask yourself.

earthrealm:
so big dilenmna,
hv a plot of land i hv been planning to develop in ph, but the rains last yr made me decide to wait till this ye/dry season.
now this wahala has started..i mean increase in price. really confused on what to do

delay the project and hope things will come down, and commence..believeing that things will get worse.
deep inside me...i feel it will get worse, as oil being our only source of forex
comments/advice needed pls

Haha

After you don Abuse me when i said i wan do similar stuff .

EgunMogaji:
I want concrete countertops but we'll see.

This is Ibadan !!

Wow, memories ha.

EgunMogaji:
I saw this outfit today near onireke axis.

They sell this fired clay bricks including one for decking. They are not cheap starting from N750 per brick.

Let me guess, a flag with dollar sign on it and the face of the Donald there as well !

EgunMogaji:
Not to deter, they each have deep private meanings to me. There's a third one that I won't fly until I'm living there full time.

Remember that Kitchen you said was not possible ?
The one you said should only be done with wood ? Well I didnt use wood o and i was happy with the results.

EgunMogaji:
Sweating the small stuff is what I like to do.

I enjoyed my time at the sawmill and increased my knowledge.

You do your project your way, I'll do mine my way.

Same 1 by 12 i was buying for 850 about 6 months ago.
Na wah o.
Abi is this special roofing wood Egun or standard board to do casting ?

EgunMogaji:
I feel very proud.

Carpenter wants N2,000 per 1x12 wood. I needed 18.

Went down to "Iso Pako" at New Garage and got it for N1,500.

Saved N9,000 (about 36 bottles of Star).

Of course this is chump change but goes to show new entrants ways you can extend your budget when you buy your materials.

Good sum up.

I had about over 20 artisans/suppliers doing all sorts of things, out of that number. I can only trust 3/4. Its only those 3/4 that i am comfortable in recommending, I just pray they remain trustworthy.

spyder880:
TRUST
This is where most Nigerian contractors and artisans get it wrong. I usually coach younger supervisors and all artisans working directly under me that the greatest asset they can use to advance their career and business is trust. Trust is earned, not bought.

The biggest problem I have in this line of work is finding people to trust. I have spent so many years here training and retraining workers who will be patient enough to learn the basics of trust. And the few successes I have had here is because of these number of workers under me who I can trust to some extent. These include suppliers, distributors and artisans who are ready to put in hard work, to earn the trust of others.

Trust is a scarce commodity because the Nigerian mind has been wrongly programmed to pursue quick wealth. People no longer want to earn money, they want to "pack" money no mater where or how they make it.

Let us continue to identify the good and trustworthy types, encourage and reward them in our works. I pay my workers who are more upright higher than the ones I cannot trust. Then I slowly weed out workers who I suspect of being dubious.